Way back in 1990 I began training to be a nurse. It was great, I loved it so much, but sadly like many other things in my life it was brought to an end by ill health. When we were assessing patients we used a model called Activities of Daily living devised by Roper Logan and Tierney.
This was brought to mind recently when my Mum asked for help with the assessment of my Dad’s abilities and needs with his Parkinson’s disease. It’s amazing what you remember after 26 years, yet can’t remember what you did yesterday!
It has set me thinking about my own daily activities and limitations and the effects they have on me and my family.
The model uses the sections;
• Maintaining a safe environment
• Communication
• Breathing
• Eating and drinking
• Elimination
• Washing and dressing
• Controlling temperature
• Mobilisation
• Working and playing
• Expressing sexuality
• Sleeping
• Death and dying
Everyone who has ME/CFS has different needs and limitations, I can only portray my own.
I thought I could write a blog about each element so this one will be;
Elimination
Well in the natural process of things after Eating & Drinking you get Elimination.
As explained in Eating and Drinking I have IBS. My stomach symptoms include pain, bloating, constipation, diarrhoea, indigestion, nausea and vomiting. I have had IBS for about 33 years! The pain can be excruciating.
I recently had an endoscopy and colonoscopy to investigate why I had anaemia, a common cause is bleeding in the gut.
At the moment I am fed up of stomach pain and wind, lovely!
I do feel that my ME has an effect too, sometimes I feel my body doesn’t have the energy to digest my food properly so it goes straight through (diarrhoea) or others times it doesn’t have the energy to expel waste (constipation).
I also have an irritable bladder which causes leakage and bladder spasms. The bladder spasms happen mostly when I am laid down which is very frustrating when I need to rest or sleep. I also get Interstitial Cystitis which is like Cystitis, but without an infection present.
I am able to get myself to the toilet most of the time, but it can be exhausting and sometimes I need help to walk. We have a toilet on the living level so that makes it easier as climbing stairs all the time would be too much.
I have a radar key for using disabled toilets when out as this avoids queuing and stairs. The only issue is that it is huge and is something else to carry around.
I think we can now eliminate this topic!
